Area official to work state championship basketball game

But he's pretty darn good, good enough to reach the pinnacle of high school basketball officiating.

Ulrich, of Charlevoix, has been selected to officiate one of four state high school boys' basketball championship games at Michigan State University's Breslin Center on Saturday, March 20.

"I've done this 28 years and I don't think I've done a perfect game yet, but I try to do it every night out," said Ulrich, 47, who has twice worked state semifinal games. "You work for that, but there's no way it can be done. You work toward the best job you can possibly do."

Ulrich, a Landscape and recreation designer for Northwest Design Group in Petoskey, will not know to which of the four state title games he is assigned until he arrives, along with the other 11 officials selected for the finals, in East Lansing on Friday. And, frankly, he doesn't care about the specifics.

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"I'll do whatever they want me to do," he said, adding that to be chosen for the state final is the highest of honor for an official. "Like anything, you want to work to be considered the best in your field, to be one of the 12 officials in the state finals is as high as you can hope to achieve in this element."

Ulrich started his career in stripes at age 19 in his hometown, Muncie, Ind., where, like a typical Hoosier, he was weaned on the game. He started going to high school games as a 5-year-old with his father, and, for his 8th birthday, received a regulation scorebook from his older brother, Bob. He took the book to all the Burris High School games, the school from which he would later graduate.

When Ulrich reached 10th grade, he realized his future was in the gym, but not in a basketball uniform.

"I wasn't very good," he said. "You've got to pretty good in central Indiana if you want to be on the team."

He found his niche, however, in taking statistics for the Burris varsity and junior varsity squads.

"I attribute a lot of my interest in officiating to those days of watching the game up close with total focus with what is going on out there," he said. "It was a way to stay involved in the game. I couldn't play, I wasn't tall … I loved the game though. I couldn't get enough of it."

He earned his certification in Indiana as a 19-year-old, and made the slow and steady progression from middle school, to freshman, to JV games.

"My very first JV game, I was hired as a fill-in at my old high school," he said. "That was probably as nerve-racking then as the state final is for me now.

"It takes time, and you have to get bruised along the way a little bit too. But that's how you learn."

Ulrich moved to Torch Lake in 1983 and became certified to work in Michigan. His ascension to varsity was relatively quick, and it helped when he began working alongside Mike Bur of East Jordan. The two have been a crew since.

Today, Ulrich and Bur are part of a crew of officials who work together in various combinations throughout the season. Included in that group is Mark Lennemann of Petoskey, Blane Lagerman of Larks Lake, Tim Volovsek of Charlevoix, Don Burns of Central Lake, and Al Hebden of Williamsburg.

"We do a lot together," said Ulrich, who, with is wife, Patti, moved to Charlevoix in 1989, and has two children, daughter Liz, who attends DePauw University in Green Castle, Ind.; and son, Adam, an eighth-grader at Charlevoix Middle School.

"We've been through a lot together and we take care of each other," Ulrich added. "There's a lot to be said for that camaraderie."

Not only has the bond Ulrich shares with fellow officials grown steel strong over two decades, so to has his relationships with coaches, athletic directors and even fans at high schools all over Northern Michigan.

"I know people in every community in Northern Michigan that I know that I can call a friend," he said. "On top of that, my crew, the friendships and the bonding that we've developed over the years by being out there and going through the tough times, the rough games, but always coming through together and working together. You can't put a value on that, that's priceless.

"That builds me up, fills me full of energy. I love it."

Getting assigned to a state final is a long process and it takes years of building a reputation of respect. Officials are rated, on a scale of 1 through 5, after every game by the coaches involved. A '1' is the best. A three-year composite rating is used to select officials for state tournament games.

"It takes coaches respecting your efforts out there," Ulrich said. "You conduct the game in a proper manner, you're professional, all those good points.

"The key to effective officiating is to be concentrated: Focus, focus, focus for the 32 minutes out there that you have to give your undivided attention."

Ulrich said he doesn't put much weight behind fans' reaction to an officials call, or non-call.